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IN THIS ISSUE –  “Newsom vented. Then he caved.”
          LA Times commentary pushes Governor to go big on CEQA reform 

Capital News & Notes (CN&N) harvests California policy, legislative and regulatory insights from dozens of media and official sources for the past week. Please feel free to forward this unique client service.

FOR THE WEEK ENDING JULY 21, 2023

 

Newsom Needs to Stop “Baby Steps” & Get Stronger CEQA Reform for Housing, Energy, Transportation

LA Times commentary

In February, after yet another court decision stalling sorely needed housing development, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared that California’s landmark environmental law is “broken.”
The California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA, is supposed to protect the environment by requiring governments to study and mitigate any harms of development before they approve it.

But as Newsom noted, CEQA has been “weaponized” by “wealthy homeowners” (among others) to block housing — often in the urban and suburban areas where people have the least environmental impact.

And housing isn’t all that’s on the line. To meet the state’s greenhouse-gas emission targets — and secure its share of federal green-energy funding — California needs to quickly approve wind and solar energy projects, electricity transmission lines, car-charging networks and mass transit.

To that end, in May, the governor unveiled an 11-bill infrastructure package to “assert a different paradigm.” No longer would we “screw it up” with “paralysis and process.” Going forward, the state would commit itself to “results.”
Newsom’s bold rhetoric implied that big reforms were in the offing. But the package included only two incremental CEQA reforms, neither directed at housing.
One allows the governor to designate more “environmental leadership” projects for which the courts are supposed to wrap up any legal challenges within 270 days. If a case takes longer to resolve and remains stuck in legal limbo, however, the governor’s bill provides no legal remedy.
The other measure seeks to narrow the “administrative record” in CEQA cases. Often, compiling the administrative record — all the information involved in an environmental review that was available to the government and is germane to the court case — can result in extensive delays because it takes a long time to assemble all the required documents.
Newsom proposed to mitigate this problem by excluding from the administrative record “internal communications” within an agency that are not presented to the final decision-makers. This was a baby step.

And yet even this minor change elicited outrage from more than 100 organizations that call themselves environmentalist. They asserted, confusingly, that the governor’s reform would make it “prohibitively expensive and difficult to…assemble an administrative record, making judicial remedy something only the rich can afford.”

“This is ridiculous!” Newsom vented. Then he caved.

The language about internal agency communications was stripped from his bill before he signed it into law last week, replaced with a symbolic carve-out for “meeting invitations and scheduling communications” — which are never relevant to a CEQA case.

In sum, Newsom’s big push to reform a “broken” law won him a statutory right to implore judges to speed up a few more cases — and little else.

If you want to see what real reform looks like, look north. Washington state legislators voted this year to eliminate environmental review for every urban housing project that conforms to a city’s general plan and zoning laws. Deep-green Oregon, meanwhile, never saw the need for a CEQA-like law. It adopted urban growth boundaries instead, preserving the countryside while allowing cities to approve new housing without the “paralysis” Newsom bemoaned.

Oregon and Washington, in other words, chose results.

Oddly, amid all the Sturm und Drang occasioned by the governor’s infrastructure package, Newsom has refrained from using his regulatory authority over CEQA. The law says the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and the state Natural Resources Agency may refine and clarify CEQA’s often-vague requirements by issuing “guidelines.” New guidelines could bolster exemptions for urban and suburban housing, make new exemptions for electricity transmission or create a statewide environmental zoning map and calibrate the intensity of reviews to the sensitivity of each zone.

Yes, Team Paralysis would throw conniptions and file lawsuits. And many moons ago, a court did strike down an effort to streamline CEQA through the guidelines. But the California Supreme Court later disapproved of that decision.

The field belongs to the governor. If nothing else, an overhaul of the guidelines would set the agenda for the Legislature and the courts. If CEQA is truly broken, it’s surely worth taking some legal and political risks to fix it.

 

An Environmental Power Player – Trades Union – Under New Management at a Critical Juncture for California

Politico California Playbook

One of California’s most powerful unions is under new management — just as it faces a challenge to its clout because of the state’s housing crisis.

The State Building and Construction Trades Council of California announced on Monday that Chris Hannan will be its new president. He replaces Andrew Meredith, who said he would depart late last month after less than two years on the job.

The previous president, Robbie Hunter, held the post for almost a decade, growing the union to nearly 500,000 members and leading it to a position of prominence in a state where pro-union Democrats have a supermajority in both chambers of the Legislature.

“The Trades,” as the union is known, is a formidable player in California. It has long managed to ensure that certain major construction projects in the state are built with skilled, union labor. That approach has long faced opposition from developers and many housing advocates, but it didn’t matter given the organization’s clout in the Legislature.

The Trades’ became famous in Sacramento for aggressive tactics that were successful — until they weren’t.

Its influence has been strained lately due to fracturing within labor ranks. Last year, the California Conference of Carpenters broke with the Trades over a major housing measure, Assembly Bill 2011. The carpenters argued the union had been too protectionist when California doesn’t have nearly enough construction workers to build the housing it needs.

For years, the Trades aggressively went after lawmakers such as state Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks for backing legislation that aimed to fast-track construction and ease labor requirements. Wiener was hit with a flurry of negative ads.

But the effort to paint their foes as anti-labor was undermined when the carpenters sponsored AB2011, which was carried by Wicks and Wiener. The bill made it easier to build urban infill projects that have often been held up by local regulations that discourage density — in part by eliminating the Trades’-favored requirement that projects use “skilled and trained” workers, a de facto requirement to use union labor.

The carpenters, who aren’t the only union to buck the Trades, and pro-housing groups say Hannan’s leadership signals the larger union is ready to pivot to a more collaborative approach.

“We’re hoping for a new day from the Trades,” said NorCal Carpenters Union chief Jay Bradshaw, “and right now that door is open.”

Wiener, one of the Trades’ most frequent targets in the past, said he’s also optimistic. “I’m hoping that we can move past this conflict and link arms and focus on really strong housing policy,” he said.

The Trades’ hardball tactics also wore thin with some legislators, said former Speaker Anthony Rendon, a labor ally.

“There was a point at which the governor of the state, the mayor of the biggest city in the state and the speaker were not talking to him,” Rendon told Playbook. “By the time Andrew (Meredith) came to power, I think Californians were pretty frustrated with housing and homelessness issues. The Legislature was frustrated with the Trades standing in the way of a lot of the things we wanted to do.”

On top of the housing clash, the Trades also fought with progressive lawmakers and environmentalists over bills that aimed to limit production of fossil fuels in California.

Hannan may represent a friendlier approach.

Environmental and housing advocates alike said they hope that Hannan’s leadership could mean more negotiating and less jousting. He is a “really smart and collaborative leader,” said Mary Creasman, head of the advocacy group EnviroVoters.

Even Dana Williamson, chief of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom, nodded to the change in leadership style Monday night, tweeting, “it’s a new day…congrats Chris!”

Hannan, who previously led the Trades’ Los Angeles and Orange County branch, isn’t criticizing his predecessor but struck a conciliatory tone: “My role is to unify the Trades and to work to move an agenda for working people,” he said. “I bring in a set of fresh eyes to be able to work together with people.”

 

Mega-Donor Soros Maxs Support of Kounalakis’ Governor’s Campaign

Politico California Playbook

Billionaire businessman and philanthropist George Soros has maxed out to Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis’ 2026 governor campaign, per a filing reported this week. Soros, a longtime proponent of Kounalakis, pitched in the legal maximum of $36,400 — his only contribution to a California campaign so far this year.

Soros, who has gained global notoriety for spreading his wealth around, has been dipping into California politics for years. He has bolstered both Kounalakis and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaigns in past cycles, including donating $1 million to help the governor fight off a recall attempt in 2021. Soros also helped fund various California criminal justice reform efforts through personal donations and the Open Society Foundations.

 

California Stored Groundwater for 11 Million Households After Record Wet Season

Sacramento Bee

State water authorities estimated that 3.8 million acre-feet of water went into depleted underground reservoirs this year after a record winter of rain and snow. That’s about how much water more than 11 million California households will use annually.

The figure released Wednesday was praised by officials as a boon to depleted groundwater basins after decades of overpumping during drought. But it’s going to take years of rain and effort from local water agencies to reach sustainability, said experts and advocates.

“We took a pretty creative approach on how to deal with atmospheric rivers,” said Paul Gosselin, deputy director of the Department of Water Resources’ sustainable groundwater management office. “This one year is going to improve conditions but it’s also not the end of the story, and it may only scratch the surface.”

California’s Central Valley has a groundwater deficit that ranges between 2.3 and 7.0 million acre-feet, according to a study of NASA satellite data. A single acre-foot is equal to roughly 325,000 gallons and can serve about three households in a year.

DWR’s estimate, which is based on project reports and permit records, far exceeds a goal set by Gov. Gavin Newsom to refill depleted reservoirs by an average of 500,000 acre-feet per year.

Yet the smallest contribution came from Newsom’s executive order waiving permits amid the winter’s atmospheric river storms, which the agency said put 92,410 acre-feet of flood water underground.

The vast majority came from pre-existing projects — water banks and surface water diversions — amounting to over 2.1 million acre-feet. State Water Board and Bureau of Reclamation programs to streamline permits account for approximately 1.2 million acre-feet, with another 117,000 acre-feet in permits from state grants.

The agency will issue a complete calculation by April, after the deadline for local groundwater agencies to submit annual reports to the state.

“Nature brought a lot to the table and then through human efforts and coordination, we enhanced that,” said Gosselin. “I think it’s safe to say that up and down the Central Valley had great benefit from recharge and flood diversions.”

Underground water stores make up 40% of California’s supply for farms, cities and households. State agencies estimate their total capacity at somewhere between 850 million and 1.3 billion acre-feet.

In the Central Valley alone, researchers say, groundwater basins can hold three times as much water as California’s surface reservoirs. But the critical water source has been in steep decline since the 1960s, mainly because agricultural pumping during drought outpaced natural replenishment in wet years.

California’s 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) aims to address this problem by 2040. A key piece of the sweeping law will include local agencies intentionally flooding plots of land with porous soil to let water seep underground, called groundwater recharge.

Graham Fogg, a professor emeritus of hydrogeology at the University of California, Davis who studied California’s water systems for 40 years, gives the state’s efforts on recharge this year a B+.

“These apparent recharge numbers are a positive sign, but are really just a start, and reflect only part of what needs to happen for California to stabilize its water resources,” he said. “This will not happen in just one year, and likely not in just one decade.” More recharge projects need to come online for the next wet year, he said, and there should be reductions in pumping during the next drought.

Tracking the changes in net groundwater storage should be the goal, not ad hoc recharge estimates. Groundwater is tricky to measure and there’s currently no database for aquifers in the way anyone can look at today’s level for any surface reservoir. But recently, the state has conducted aerial surveys and used electromagnetic imaging to map recharge zones.

Historical reluctance by the state’s private landowners is also beginning to change. The North San Joaquin Water District purchased a 10-acre plot of land this year for recharge, and flooded an abandoned 80-acre vineyard for the same purpose.

“I think anything we can do is helpful,” said board president Joe Valente, who grows wine grapes and almonds in Lodi. “When SGMA came along, people were upset about it. But on the positive side it got people working together and thinking outside the box.”

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article277208388.html#storylink=cpy

 

Shasta Dam Raise Battle Renewed

Sacramento Bee

The Shasta Dam started to leak at the end of May after the snowpack from the wet winter started melting. To Californians who have suffered decades of drought, that was good news.

The Shasta reservoir, California’s largest, sends water to farmers and families in the Central Valley, where a third of the nation’s produce is grown. It almost reached capacity after years of not filling up.

At its peak, Shasta Lake can hold more than 4.5 million acre-feet of water. (An acre-foot is the annual consumption for two average households.) Raising the dam, located on the upper Sacramento River northwest of Redding, to increase Shasta reservoir’s capacity has long been on the list of some federal lawmakers.

The 18.5-foot rise would provide 634,000 more acre-feet of water per year, legislators say, and help ensure Central Valley farmers have a steadier and fuller supply. But that assumes there will always be enough precipitation to fill Lake Shasta, which historically has not been the case.

At that, environmentalists say it would be a drop in the bucket for the cost — at least $1.4 billion, per outdated estimates. And raising the 80-year-old dam risks flooding sacred Native American lands and harming local habitats.

With the House of Representatives in Republican control, and Bakersfield Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker, there could be more federal funding for a taller Shasta Dam if a spending package passes. Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, who is sponsoring legislation to fund the project, said it was “regarded as the most affordable, cost efficient expansion of water infrastructure for the state of California on the table right now.”

California itself has opposed the plan, and in a letter to congressional leaders, dozens of environmental groups wrote that a taller dam would “harm Native American Tribes, salmon fishermen, and the environment, as well as violate state law.”

The potential for new funding is the latest chapter in the project’s long, heavily litigated history. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, part of the Interior Department which oversees federal water issues, first proposed raising the dam in the late 1970s, even though it appeared to be at odds with the California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, a law that protects the free flow of certain rivers.

Support picked up under President Donald Trump — whose administration claimed the project would not break the law — only to fizzle under lawsuits from environmentalists and the state’s attorney general.

The project stalled after legal challenges forced water distributor Westlands Water District to withdraw in 2019. Local groups are required to pay half of the cost under federal rules. Westlands, which serves farmers and rural communities in Fresno and Kings counties, agreed to do an environmental review for the project which would seemingly benefit agricultural producers there.

Then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt had been the district’s lawyer and lobbyist. Westlands agreed to pull out in a 2019 settlement with then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and environmentalists, who sued contending that the district violated state laws that ascertain the free flow of rivers with “extraordinary scenic, recreational, fishery, or wildlife values.”

Allison Febbo, Westlands’ new general manager who was not there at this time, said the district supports bolstered water infrastructure in California, but not by breaking any state laws.

A Shasta Dam raise would need to address the concerns of various groups and stakeholders. The California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act protects the McCloud River and its wild trout fishery, which could be affected by raising the Shasta Dam. The act prevented the state group from helping the Bureau.

Several years later, the Bureau is still without local aid. “There have been no recent actions to accelerate or progress the project given the lack of funding to support the project and therefore no updated information has been developed,”

Tara Jane Campbell Miranda, a spokeswoman for the agency, wrote in response to questions about the project. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, meant to stimulate public works projects, blocked federal funds from going to the Shasta Dam raise.

“This sticks in Mr. McCarthy’s craw and no doubt Secretary Bernhardt’s craw who was telling the adoring crowds in Fresno that they were about to pull this one off,” said Ron Stork, the senior policy advocate at Friends of the River, a California conservation group that opposes the dam raise.

When the Shasta Dam was built in the 1930s and 40s, the government took over Winnemem Wintu lands to make way for the reservoir. Chinook salmon, sacred to the tribe, were blocked from swimming upstream to the cool spawning grounds closer to Mount Shasta, endangering the species.

Chief Caleen Sisk’s grandmother and father were forced off their land on the McCloud River to make way for the reservoir. Restitution promised in a 1941 law never came. “They came in with bulldozers and bulldozed over their homes to make them leave,” Sisk said. “And got nothing in return.”

Now Winnemem Wintu leaders fear that their last remaining cultural sites on the McCloud River would flood for longer periods of time if the dam were raised. The Bureau agreed more lands would flood but asserted through a 2020 environmental review that it would happen only during peak water levels — the spring of wet years.

Already the tribe, which the federal government does not recognize, has had to adapt its timing of cultural ceremonies at sacred spots that are only available in the dry seasons.

The Winnemem Wintu have been working for decades to bring salmon back to their breeding grounds and would like a passageway for the fish to swim upstream. Humans right now have to carry eggs to the McCloud River. “Survival of the salmon is the same as the survival of the tribe,” Sisk said.

Instead of raising the dam, Sisk said, the government should try to deepen the reservoir by removing sediment build up at the bottom. The Trump administration contended that raising the dam would actually help salmon spawn in the Redding area. The Bureau said it would create a greater pool of cold water, which comes from the lower depths of the lake, that the salmon need to survive.

Environmentalists said the opposite — that restrictions on flushing water down the Sacramento River would harm salmon populations. The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2015 said the project wouldn’t help the fish, something Becerra pointed to in response to the Trump Bureau’s claims.

The Central Valley has suffered decades of drought. Farmers have had to fallow fields, deplete groundwater reserves and pay high prices for water deliveries that don’t even meet their needs.

Then severe floods this year damaged crop yields. The fear for many farmers in wet years like this one is that much-needed water has nowhere to go. Lake Shasta feeds the Central Valley Project, also governed by the Bureau.

The Central Valley Project is agricultural growers’ lifeblood. But in recent years, deliveries have fallen short — if they come at all. As recently as 2022, the Bureau was not able to send most Central Valley Project servicers any water.

Reclamation had to cut supplies for some senior water rights holders during dry years too. Legislators have compiled methods aimed at bolstering water storage and cutting through red tape, including raising the Shasta Dam.

In a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, California Republicans begged the state to allow local partners to help with the dam raise despite the river law. The governor’s office has supported bolstering water infrastructure, but does not want to break state law in doing so.

“Raising Shasta Dam would improve water supply reliability for agricultural, municipal, industrial, and environmental uses, improve Sacramento River temperatures and water quality below the dam for salmon survival, increase the generation of hydroelectric power, and reduce the risk of flood damage,” the letter read.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, backs various water measures added to the 2024 spending bill designed for energy and water. The Shasta Dam raise and other California water measures were folded in via the Working to Advance Tangible and Effective Reforms for California Act, which was backed by all California Republicans. As far as priorities go, said Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Oroville, who represents Shasta County, “it’s a good thing when the Speaker is on your side.”

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article275019896.html#storylink=cpy